Fall will be fast upon us, and no one knows that better than native pollinators. Hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees all continue to toil before cool weather hits. Many of them are either gearing up to migrate to warmer places, like Mexico or South America, or hibernate over the winter. So why not give them a helping hand before winter starts? We have a few tips to help our local pollinators!

Hummingbirds
Hummingbirds migrate to and from Colorado two times a year. They arrive to stay the summer in May and June and leave for the winter between August & September. Many of our native hummingbirds fly to Mexico for the winter to subsist on the tropical flowers there. That’s a 1,392-mile journey!!! Amazing, but no feat is too steep for a hummingbird. After all, the Aztecs’ war god’s sacred animal was a hummingbird. These birds are fierce! In order to help them prepare for the long flight to Mexico, we recommend planting pollinator-friendly perennials with hummingbirds in mind. Native Beard Tongue, Giant Hyssop, Native Bee Balm, and Native currants are all wonderful for hummingbirds. They may not bloom this late in the season, but planting perennials in the fall is ideal! Most perennials are done flowering this time of year, so they’re putting all their energy into establishing roots for the winter. They adapt faster when planted in fall, though Fertilome Root Stimulator helps them establish quickly. Once established, those perennials will bloom for next year’s hummingbirds.
In the meantime, annuals are another great option. Salvia, Petunia, Geranium, and Fuchsia are all excellent options for hummingbirds, especially if the flower is red, purple, or pink! And if plants aren’t an option either, we sell hummingbird feeders with hummingbird sugar. We recommend a hummingbird feeder with red plastic flowers as the best choice. It’s also extremely easy to make your own sugar water for hummingbirds too. We’ll provide a link below this paragraph. When buying hummingbird sugar water, though, AVOID any with red colored dye, as it’s difficult for the little birds to digest. No one likes being car sick on roadtrips, not even hummingbirds! Hummingbird water made with white sugar, not powdered or brown sugar, is the best option.
Hummingbirds also need shelter in case it gets cold or stormy. While we don’t sell any hummingbird-specific houses, as hummingbirds tend to avoid birdhouses in general, providing them with areas or plants to roost in is a better option. Hummingbirds roost on fragile branches and stems of shrubby plants. Lilac and boxwood are popular choices for a hummingbird, but anything not easily penetrated by wind or cold is a good choice. Consider holding off from pruning the inner shoots of these plants and only prune those exposed to the elements at this time of year.
Perennials & Annuals Best for Hummers: Click here!
Sugar Water Recipe: Click here!

Butterflies
We all love the dazzling butterfly, and our flowers especially love them. Some butterflies, like the Monarch butterfly, migrate similarly to the hummingbird to Mexico over winter. Butterfly enthusiasts often plant Milkweed for hungry monarchs to feed on during their travels. We also sell Milkweed seed! Spreading these seeds in the fall is the best time for Milkweed to be exposed to cold temperatures to break natural dormancy. If you’re interested in other flowers for butterflies, check out our Beauty Beyond Belief Monarch Rescue blend or Butterflies & Birds blend. Because these are all native perennial and annual blends, putting down the seed in the fall breaks their dormancy as well. If you’re deadset on planting other kinds of perennials other than milkweed, here’s a great list to reference: Click here!
Butterflies are more delicate when it comes to shelter, and a storm can easily kill them. That’s why we recommend buying a butterfly house to keep them sheltered! Similar to a bird house, this little wooden structure has vertical slits carved into the front for butterflies to come and go as they please. With how narrow these entryways are, birds and other insects are deterred from entering. Attach a butterfly house on a solid structure like a fence or garage, and voila! A butterfly shelter! It’s ideal to place them around the flowers that butterflies frequent.

Bees: Native Bees & Honey Bees
America has diverse bee species. Numerous native bees pollinate our flowers and often live solitary lifestyles, whereas the European Honey bee has adapted to life in America and pollinate alongside its American brethren. These bees are also a popular choice for Beekeepers! Whatever kind of bee you’re trying to cater to, we have plants for you!
All bee species enjoy blue, violet, and red colored flowers. This is because bees see in the ultraviolet light spectrum, and these flowers are especially vibrant! That being said, they won’t turn away from orange or yellow flowers either; they are just more interested in things with a blue hue. Great plants to attract bees includes Blue Flax, Yarrow, Goldenrod, Rabbitbrush, Rocky Mountain Bee Balm, and the Common Sunflower. We carry grown perennials of many of these varieties; however, Rocky Mountain Bee Balm and Sunflowers grow best from seed. We have numerous sunflower seed blends and even bee-targeted seed blends, like Bumblebee Bonanza, Honey Source, and Bee Rescue blend (all by Beauty Beyond Belief). Spread seeds in the fall and watch them grow, and feed bees next spring and summer! Sometimes bees will take advantage of honeybird feeders too and use them alongside the hummers. Wasp will as well, which isn’t always desired, but wasps are also pollinators (if you don’t believe us check out this article: Click here ).
Native bees, unlike the honey bees, often don’t create hives. Instead, they’ll find shelter in dead trees, dense shrubs, logs, hollowed-out reed grasses, and nooks and crannies of houses. Sometimes, like the Mud Dauber Bee, they’ll create their own homes out of various materials nature provides them. And oftentimes it’s the female bee who builds the nest, as they’ll lay their eggs there. If you want to give these insects a helping hand, start collecting materials to make a bee nest! Deadwood, dried plant stems, or a pile of dead leaves are all excellent materials. Even leaving a spot covered with mulch bare for burrowing bees would be excellent! Keeping around that dead stump or avoiding pruning perennials likewise provides shelter to native bees. But if you prefer maintaining aesthetics or prefer not to have fire hazards lying around the yard, we recommend establishing a bug house/hotel. It acts just like a butterfly house, except it’s stuffed with hollowed reeds and sticks. Some just have tiny drilled holes for shelter, too. These materials are similar to the crannies and structures native bees inhabit in the wild, making these shelters cozy for winter-long stays. Sometimes they attract other insects like ladybugs and spiders as well, but that’s fine! The more beneficial insects, the better for your garden. You can create bug houses easily by following the instructions below. We also sell premade bee and insect houses.
Attracting Native Bees: Click here!
Attracting Sweat Bees/Native Bees: Click here!
Building Bug Houses: Click here!
More on Bee Houses: Click here!

Water
Setting up a water station also attracts pollinators. While most hummingbirds get their H2O from feeding off nectar, butterflies and bees appreciate a bit of water straight from the source. Creating water stations for insects can be difficult; a bowl can’t be too deep, or they drown. It also has to be clean water, so it should have a bubbling or filtering feature. Finding an exact product that does all this is difficult, and it might not be just a single product. Beekeepers who visit our store mention making their own insect watering stations out of saucers and coco coir. They load the saucers with little floating squares of the coco coir and fill them daily with water. The bees will stand on these “rafts” and lean over the edge to drink the water. Another technique we’ve seen is a saucer filled mostly with gravel or clay pebbles (aka lecca) and filled halfway with water. So long as the water is changed daily and insects have an easy place to land and stand, the saucer can be any size!
DIY Bee Water Station: Click here!
DIY Bug Water Station: Click here!

Pollinators are the reason our gardens thrive and continue to fill the world with beauty. To show our appreciation, especially in these unpredictable times, let’s lend them a helping hand as fall approaches. With some TLC, we guarantee pollinators will come back both next year and also for our children’s children to admire.

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